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Samurai Class

Type Object Region Japan Time 900–1185

The samurai class was a social-military group of the Japanese Heian to medieval periods, defined by mounted archery, lord-vassal loyalty, and armed l…

Timeline

  1. 900–1000Kinai and provincial manors · JapanAs manors expanded, lords hired sons of local strongmen as guards and retainers, defending land with mounted archery and martial skill; these armed vassals gradually came to be called samurai, forming the prototype of a warrior class parallel to court civilian officials.
  2. 1050–1107Heian-kyō and Kantō · JapanTaira no Kiyomori, Minamoto no Yoshiie and other samurai showed military merit in provincial land surveys, Emishi campaigns, and the Hōgen Disturbance; the court and regent houses began to rely on samurai to maintain order, and by the 1100s samurai were deeply involved in Kinai politics.
  3. 1156–1185Japanese archipelago · JapanAfter the Hōgen and Heiji disturbances the Taira monopolized power, and Minamoto no Yoritomo rose in arms in 1180; in 1185 the naval battle of Dan-no-ura destroyed the Taira, completing the samurai class's transformation from subordinate vassals to rulers, with the Kamakura shogunate about to be established.

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